EIU Booth Library

Librarians offer research help 24-7

Posted on February 13th, 2018

You know there are a lot of computers in the library and free printing in the Reference lab on the third floor. And, of course, you probably know there are a million-plus books and electronic resources and research available through Booth. But what do you know about the people at Booth?

Did you know librarians at EIU are highly credentialed faculty, and many of them are published scholars? Booth librarians are available to support student and faculty research in a variety of ways. The Reference desk, located on the main floor of the Library, is staffed with library faculty members from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. most days of the week. They can answer questions ranging from the simplest to the very specific and complicated.

Do you need to find resources for your writing assignment? They can help. Are you having difficulty understanding what your professor is asking you to do? Bring your assignment by and let a librarian work through it with you. They won’t give you the answer, but they’ll be a big help in getting you on the right path, and they have many years of experience working on college assignments with students just like you.

The “reference librarians,” or “research-help” librarians, have expertise in finding information and navigating the complex research tools that the library makes available to the university. Library databases are highly sophisticated systems and have many features and options that are not obvious to the novice researcher. Librarians understand these systems and know how to manipulate them to get the optimal results. They also know how to explain it all so the non-expert can understand.

Research-help librarians are also available online. You can reach them via email or chat, or make an appointment for a private consultation. They are even on D2L! You can use the library widgets in your D2L course site, or your professor might even have added a research librarian to your course!

There are librarian liaisons with your major department who specialize in a subject area like English, Economics, Biology, History, or Education. They support the faculty in that department by collecting materials for the library and teaching classes in research skills. They develop instructional guides and web pages to help you accomplish tasks in Booth.

No matter what your question, the librarians at Booth have you covered!